Within the first 17 minutes, it was all over and the three points were in the kitty of visiting Arsenal of England, who beat hosts Montpellier of France after recovering from shaky start. The match ended 2-1 against the tournament debutants.

Montpellier drew the first blood in the 8 min via a Belhanda penalty given after Vermaelen fouled Belhanda as he danced down the side of the penalty area.

Arsenal were back on level terms in 15 minutes after Lukas Podolski ghosted into a vantage position to left-foot past goalie Joudren after a tap-in from Giroud.

The work was as good as done two minutes later after Gervinho, unmarked in the Montpellier goal area.

Other Results

Dortmund 1 – 0 Ajax

Dinamo Zagreb 0 – 2 Porto

AC Milan 0 – 0 Anderlecht

Montpellier 1 – 2 Arsenal

Malaga 3 – 0 Zenit

Olympiakos 1 – 2 Schalke

Paris SG 4 – 1 Dynamo Kyiv

Real Madrid 3 – 2 Man City

Matches for Wednesday, September 19

Barcelona v. Spartak M.

Bayern Munich v. Valencia

Celtic v. Benfica

Chelsea v. Juventus

Lille v. BATE Borisov

Man Utd v. Galatasaray

Shakhtar Donetsk v. FC Nordsjælland

Sporting Braga v. CFR Cluj

*Photo: Podolski (left) celebrates a goal.